Day 16

A frustrating day. The wind was ESE, light with some swell. We decided to try out our downwind sail setup. However this was designed with our genoa poled out to starboard with a hanked on foresail to port on a second forestay for those NE winds we were going to get. Today though we had wind on the port quarter and try as we might we could not get things to work. Blocks were in the wrong position, the second pole was in the wrong place, the uphaul was crossed over, and when we did get it all sorted out the wind was too light and swell too large to prevent both sails flapping around. Eventually we decided it had to be the engine so for the first time in 15 days the old ironsail was started up. Even then we could only manage 4.5k as there seemed to be an adverse current knocking us back. All very frustrating but we engined on for a few hours before the wind mercifully backed to ENE and we reverted to our trusty mainsail setup for the night. We are currently making just under 4k and the wind is forecast to stay light for the foreseeable future. It could be a long 1200 miles to St Maarten!

The good news though is that the weather is now kinda tropical. 28 degrees C and shorts and T shirt weather during the day. All in all it is much more comfortable as we loll around the cockpit.

Fishing. Still no fish but the first hard luck story. The lure had been out for a couple of hours when we heard a short sharp reel scream (you know how it is Stu) and then nothing. Eventually I bought the line in and there it was - gone. The wire trace was bitten right through. Ah well, there goes another monster - probably too big to eat anyhow. However, it was not an entirely fishless day though. Up on the foredeck this morning we found a dead 2" long (if that) flying fish who had leapt one time too many. Around us today we saw quite a few larger ones too. They shoot out of the water at a low angle and then glide just above the surface of the sea for several hundred metres before flopping back in. Amazing - at first sight they look like small birds.

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